Rag puppet



Dec, 9y 1924- E. EDWARDS RAG PUPPET Filed June 13, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Dec. 9, 1924- E. EDWARDS RAG PUPPET 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 13, 1923I N EN TOR.

Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

UNITED STATES EMILY EDWARDS, OF SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.

RAG- PUPPET.

Application filed June 13,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMILY EDWARDS, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of San Antonio, in the county of BeXar and State of Texas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Bag Puppets, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to puppets or manikins that may be constructed byfolding and binding a sheet of cloth. More particularly the inventionembodies the idea of using a rectangular rag such as a dish rag havingcertain characters embroidered or printed thereon and folded, and lacedin a particular manner whereby a manikin or puppet is produced which maybe operated in an amusing fashion by the fingers of one hand. It is theintention that the article be sold complete as a puppet and when itsutility in this connection has ceased that the tying be removed, so thatit may be used as an ordinary cleaning rag. These objects are obtainedas described in the following specification and shown in theaccompanying drawings, including the various stages of construction fromthe sheet to the finished article, Figs. 1, 2 and 3 showing preliminaryoperations in the formation of the legs of the figure, Figs. 4, 5, and 6showing the procedure in forming the upper portion of the figure. Figs.7, 8 and 9 show the method of operation, Fig. 10 is an outline of thesheet and the characters that may be embroidered or impressed thereon,Fig. 11 is a front view showing the method of lacing, Fig. 12 is acorresponding back View and Fig. 13 shows the figure in its completedstate.

This invention starts with a fiat rectangular cloth 11 as indicated inFig. 1, having the tab 12 at the top by which 1t may be hung on a nailwhen not in use. The face of a figure as indicated at 13 may be roughlyembroidered on this fabric which when folded according to the presentinvention forms the face of the puppet and the tab 12 forms a coloredcap. The edge of the cloth is hemmed as indicated by the hatched line at14. The four corners of this cloth are for reference purposes indicatedby the letters A, B, C and D.

The first operation consists in folding in the edges along the lines 15,16 and 17, Fig. 1, producing results corresponding to Fig. 2. Thebinding cord or twine is secured in 1923. Serial N0. 645,191.

the centre of the lower line 16 by a. pin 19 and has the free ends 18and 19 as shown. The/next operation indicated in Fig. 3 includes thefolding and gathering of the corner C to form one leg and the corner Dto form another leg. folded are laced as indicated at 18 and 19,preferably by a double lacing, the lacing going once down the leg andthen up again. The next operation consists in forming the head and earsas indicated in Fig. 4. The ear on one side is made by the corner Aformed by the fold from the back on the line 22 and the other ear ismade by the corner B formed by the fold from the other leg up the backon the line 23 as is clearly shown in Fig. 12. A rubber band asindicated at 21 may be placed around the head to hold it in positionduring the operation of assembling. A tying formed by the cord 31 may betied as indicated in Fig. 13 at 34, thereby providing a neck for thefigure, the head being held in shape by a filler of cotton 24 as shownin detail in 24 consisting of a pad of cotton wrapped around a piece ofstick. This will hold the face flat and in the rectangular formationshown in Fig.13.

This figure does not have arms as ordinarily understood but has pocketsindicated at 26 and 29 which serve the purpose of arms in themanipulation of the figure. These pockets are formed as indicated inFig. 6 by using the loose end of the cord which binds the legs as forinstance, cord 28 which by needle 32 is stitched in a circle around thespace 29, thereby forming a loop and similarly the loose end of the cordfrom the other leg indicated by 25 is stitched around the pocket 26 andthe opposite end connects under the neck band as indicated in Fig. 12,where the cords 27 and 30 connect to the band 31. This completes theconstruction of the figure.

The operation of this puppet is performed as indicated in Fig. 7 withthe thumb placed in the arm pocket 29, the forefinger in the arm pocket26 and the index finger placed through the band of the neck, themovements of the fingers giving an animated action to the figure itself,producing highly amusing results. This will be understood by referenceto Fig. 8 where the arm pockets are spread apart and moved downward.This releases the tension on the cords 25 These corners when and 28 andthe legs assume a position close a leg and secured by the lacing on oneside together while the head is'moved forward. In the position shown inFig. 9 the arm pockets are drawn together and moved upwards which placestension on cords 25 and 28 and moves the legs outward while the head isunder the control of the index finger 33. The head can thus be turnedaround and moved over toward either of the arm pockets and at the sametime the legs may be manipulated by the hand of the operator which isreadily concealed behind the fig ure. A construction of this kindprovides a manikin of a distinct type which is easy to manipulate,provides amusing and artistic results and the material from which it isconstructed on afterwards be applied to other vuseful purposes.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A puppet of the class described comprising a one-piece rectangularcloth with a tab atone side and thecharacters of a face stamped orembroidered thereon, two sides and the bottom of said cloth folded over,each of the lower corners gathered to form legs, a lacing to bind saidlegs, the ends of said lacing on each side stitched through the fabricin the form of a circle at the arm locations, a neck band for saidpuppet and the ends of said lacing engaging said neck band.

2. A puppet of the class described comprising a one-piece rectangularcloth with a tab at ,oneSide and the characters of a face stamped .orembroidered thereon, two sides and the bottom of said cloth folded over,each of the lower corners gathered to form legs and the upper cornersforming ears, a neck band to form the head and a lacing to bind said'jlegs, the ends of said lacing on each side stitched through the fabricin the 7 form ofa circleat the arm locations, to hold said figure inshape.

3. A puppet of the class described comprising a one-piece rectangularshaped cloth 1 with the characters of a face impressed -thereon, alacing secured at-thecentre on the lower side, one lower corner gatheredinto and the other corner gathered into a leg and secured by the lacingon the other side, said sides folded on the back so that the uppercorners form ears, a pad for holding the face in shape and a band forsecuring the neck, the end of the lacing of one leg stitched through thefabric at the arm location and the end looped through the neck band.

l. A puppet of the class described comprising a one-piece rectangularcloth with the characters of a face impressed thereon,

the lower corners ofsaid cloth gathered into legs, the upper cornersfolded to form ears,

a band to form the neck, arm pockets formed by stitching the lacing ofthe legs and so arranged that the puppet may be supported on one,handand operated in animated fash- }ion with the thumb, indexfinger andforenger.

5. A puppet of the class described comprising a one-piece rectangularcloth with the characters of a face impressed thereon, the lower cornersof said cloth gathered into legs, the upper corners folded to form ears,aband to form the neck, a lacing for the legs of said puppet, armpockets formed by stitching the ends of said lacing and so arranged thatthe puppet may be supported on i through the body of said puppet to formpockets at the arm l0c.ations,-the ends of said lacing looped aroundsaid neck band, said figure supported by one hand fromthe back, meanswhereby the legs and head of said figure :may :be moved in an animatedfashlon. .7

Signed .at New York city, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, this 20th day ,of May, A. D. 1922.

EMILY EDWARDS.

